Republicans In Collapse as Obamacare Enrollment Skyrockets In December

The entire Republican strategy has been to discourage people from enrolling in the ACA Judging by these numbers, they have completely failed. Republicans are basing their entire 2014 and 2016 strategies on running against Obamacare. Their plan is backfiring, and they are setting themselves up for an epic backlash.

Millions of Americans have now signed up for access to affordable healthcare. Republicans, especially Republican Senate candidates, are going to be in a position of having to tell voters in 2014 that their plan is to take away their healthcare. This is why as more people enroll, it won’t be surprising if more Democrats follow the lead of Sen. Mary Landrieu and embrace the ACA as a part of their campaign.

The Republican tactic of campaigning only on opposition to the ACA was running on fumes in 2012. It was a narrowminded and shortsighted strategy that was born out of the fact that the GOP has done zilch for the American people and has no accomplishments to run on. Obamacare was all they had, and now that is vanishing too.

The tech team that has been working around the clock to fix the website said it can now handle 50,000 users at a time — and up to 800,000 a day — without crashing. And if folks have trouble with the site during particularly busy times, they can leave an email address to be notified later when fewer users are online trying to enroll.

It will be a largely seamless experience for most, and hundreds of thousands — if not millions — of people who were previously uninsured or underinsured will have quality, affordable coverage beginning January 1, many for the first time.

But that doesn’t mean those who have invested hundreds of millions of dollars to scare people about the reform law — including health insurers — will throw in the towel. On the contrary, we can expect them to double down, at least through 2014.

That’s because this is about politics. It is not about making sure that all Americans have access to solid medical care when they need it. It is about which political party will control the House and the Senate after the midterm elections eleven months and two days from now.

While most insurers like the requirement that Americans have to buy coverage from them, they don’t like the profit-limiting consumer protections in the law. They know they will have a better chance of weakening or getting rid of them if the GOP can take control of both the House and Senate next November.

Democratic consultants have developed a few talking points of their own, of course, but I have not observed the same level of message discipline among Democrats as I have seen among Republicans. Unless they figure out how to adapt the GOP playbook to their own advantage, they will continue to be on the defensive about Obamacare for months to come.